Bhubaneswar: Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati Wednesday criticised ruling BJD for extending support to the Triple Talaq bill in Rajya Sabha Tuesday.
Raising the issue during the zero hour in the Odisha Assembly today, Bahinipati sought a clarification from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as to whether there has been a coalition between the BJD and the BJP.
The Congress MLA said Patnaik had been maintaining that his party will maintain equidistance from both the Congress and the BJP. In the last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections both the BJD and BJP were attacking and accusing each other but the BJD has supported the Triple Talaq bill even though some of the NDA partners abstained from voting during the passage of Triple Talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha.
Bahinipati said the BJD had issued a whip to its members in the Rajya sabha to be present in the upper house and support the bill.
The chief minister, he said, should clarify if there is a BJP-BJD coalition at the centre as the BJD is supporting all the bills presented by the BJP led NDA government at the centre.
BJD chief whip Pramila Malick in responding to the allegation of the Congress MLA, said the BJD has been maintaining equidistance from both the Congress and the BJP.
She on the other hand accused the Congress of diverting all its votes in favor of the BJP candidate in the recently concluded Assembly election in Patkura.
BJD MLA Amar Prasad Satpathy said his party believed in women empowerment and so extended support to the Triple Talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha.
The Triple Talaq bill was passed in Rajya Sabha yesterday with 99 votes in favour of it and 84 votes against the bill. All the BJD MPs present in the Rajya Sabha voted in favour of the Bill.
(UNI)